A group of 23 convicted al-Qaida members have escaped from a prison in Yemen's capital. The men were sentenced last year on various charges of terrorism, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press. They were being held at a detention centre for military intelligence in Sanaa. No further details were available. The escape on Friday, came a day before the trial Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal of, an al-Qaida suspect, and 14 others charged with involvement in operations in Yemen, particularly the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. Al-Ahdal is suspected of masterminding the Cole bombing, which killed 17 US sailors, and the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen's coast, which killed a Bulgarian crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.